*Note: Blog post slightly longer than original published article. Additions show in red.

In early August, Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban, Political and Media Adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, spoke with me about how the Western media is stifling Syrian voices, endlessly propagating false allegations against the Syrian government and army. On the question of the Western media’s reaction whenever the Syrian Arab Army liberates areas from foreign-backed terrorists (the most recent examples include the liberation of Aleppo’s Bani Zaid and Lairamoun industrial districts from the so-called “Free Syrian Army” (FSA), Jabhat al-Nusra, Nouriddeen Al-Zinki, and Ahrar al-Sham, among other terrorist factions), which was met with deafening silence by Western corporate media, Shaaban accused the Western media of “double standards.”

“If the West really wants to end this terrorism, why are they so upset about liberating Bani Zaid in Aleppo, which was responsible for killing thousands of civilians in Aleppo? They should have hailed the Syrian Arab Army that liberated these Syrian citizens from terrorism, and they should have hailed overcoming these terrorist groups that were sending hell into Aleppo.

“There’s no real stand against terrorism,” the Syrian president’s adviser continued. “Not only do they not care about the lives of civilians in Aleppo or Syria, they don’t care about the lives of civilians in Nice or Paris or in the USA. The lives of civilians in Syria is as worthy as the lives of civilians in any European country, and one should be human in this regard.”

Comparing the Russian method of battling terrorism in Syria to the Western coalition forces, Shaaban said the Western forces lack the necessary will to fulfill their mission.

“Russia believes that terrorism is a world-wide cancer, and therefore it should be fought truly and drastically in Syria so that it doesn’t get to other countries. But the West doesn’t have this conviction, doesn’t have this will or intention.

That’s why Russia is a lot more successful—in cooperation with the Syrian Arab Army—in truly directing good blows to terrorism, while the Western alliance is not directing any blow to terrorism.”

Regarding the continuous corporate media sectarian depiction of the Syrian Arab Army and naming is as “Assad’s forces”, Dr. Shaaban replied:

“The Syrian Arab Army was not established today, it was established since Independence. The basis for the Syrian Arab Army is that it is a national army, across religion and sect. There’s nothing in the Syrian army which says somebody from one sect or religion serves in one area…nothing at all.

We have drafting to serve in the army, and it is for every Syrian man at a certain age. Those who want to be officers or generals apply and are taken for their qualifications.

As we fought wars against Israel in an attempt to liberate our occupied Golan Heights from Israel, the Syrian army now is fighting against terrorism, and is supported by the Syrian people.”

Government amnesty actions ignored

The Syrian government has since the start of the war on Syria shown a willingness to work for a political solution, including the establishment in 2012 of a Reconciliation Ministry, which has overseen numerous reconciliation agreements that allow Syrians caught up in the war to surrender their weapons and receive an official pardon.

Yet, this willingness to offer a political means of re-joining Syrian society has been ignored in the Western media.

“Regardless of what [anti-government mercenaries/groups] did, the President issued a decree to grant them clemency, and he called on all of them to return to their country and be constructive in rebuilding their country, with no punitive measures against them. This is maximum forgiveness. I don’t think any other country or president would do that.

Still, this has not been mentioned in Western media, at all. Not even by the UN mediator, he did not mention this at all, which tells you volumes about the ‘efforts’ they are making for a political solution in Syria.”

“Rebel Against Your Media: Your Media Is Irrelevant To Reality“

At this point in the interview, the Syrian president’s political and media adviser had harsh words for the present state of the Western media, which she said routinely “falsifies the facts”.

“What the Western media tries to portray is truly irrelevant. I would love to give a message to Western people: why do you read this media? This media is irrelevant to reality. It has nothing to do with reality. Come and see us, come to our country, listen to us. Rebel against your media.”

“There’s no free press in the West. There is a corporate media who have an agenda and who try to portray everything according to that agenda. Either they’re labeling accusations against us or falsifying facts and reporting things that have nothing to do with the truth…

See related:

Shaaban lamented that because the media has “demonized us in the eyes of Western people,” the Western people “don’t know who we are”.

“We don’t have a voice with Western people. We have no channel of communication; the corporate media is blocking the channels of communication between us and the West,” she continued.

“Except for people such as yourself, for whom I’m very grateful. You come yourself and you spend time and money, and see people and talk to them, and write about them. This is the real role of journalism. This is how journalism was established, that journalists would go and see for themself, examine the facts on the ground, and then inform.

But the corporate media is full of misinformation, not of information. This is a big problem for countries like us who are trying to show the world what is happening to us, so that they can benefit from our experience, not only for our sake, but for their sake also—to see what happened to us, all of the agony that we’ve been passing through.

As a mother, I don’t like anybody in the world to suffer what we suffered in Syria. And we would like to help any country in the world to avoid what has happened to our people in Syria.

But this needs two things: To get rid of this media, and for the colonial West to think differently, to think of people as people—not as superior and inferior. I hate anybody speaking about exceptionalism…whether it is Obama or whoever. Once you say I’m exceptional, it means you put people lower than you. And that is not human. At the root of that, there is racism.”

The conversation then moved to the recent announcement that Jabhat al-Nusra’s had changed its name and whether this means they are somehow no longer terrorists.

“They are terrorists,” Shaaban responded. “It is the deeds that matter, not the name. This is good for a Hollywood film: a terrorist organization that has been killing in Syria for five years and is an offshoot of al-Qaeda is now changing its name, which means that it has become a ‘moderate opposition’. This is absolutely ludicrous, and no sensible person should take this seriously.”

Shaaban expressed serious reservations over the term ‘moderate opposition,’ which she said does not exist in Syria.

“There is nothing in Syria called ‘moderate opposition’. All of those criminal groups are killing people, confiscating land, looting hospitals and factories, and they are all the same, no matter what names they might take.”

The UN Resolution that disappeared

Shaaban also spoke on the West’s fight against terrorism, which she described as a “farce.” To support the assertion, Shaaban pointed to Western leaders and the UN itself disregarding UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2253, which entails stopping terrorism in Syria. At the same time, they support UNSC Resolution 2254 and NATO’s alliance plan of implementing a change of government in Syria.

“I would like anybody in the UN to answer this question: You want to implement 2254? Why don’t you mention 2253? They should be dealt with with the intention in which they were taken: implement 2253 first, and then it would be very easy to implement 2254,” Dr. Shaaban asserted.

Indeed, the focus of UNSC Resolution 2253 is specific to actually stopping terrorism of “ISIL (also known as Da’esh), Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups ..” in Syria, after which a political resolution could follow. Stipulations include a cessation of funding terrorist groups (including ransom payments), travel bans, an arms embargo, and to “bring to justice, extradite, or prosecute any person who supports, facilitates, participates or attempts to participate in the direct or indirect financing of activities conducted by ISIL, Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups…,” as noted in the UN Press Release regarding the resolution.

On the subject of UNSC Resolution 2253, Dr. Shaaban had this to say: “It is a Security Council resolution and it was issued under the 7th Chapter, so it is more obliging than 2254. And yet even the UN people don’t mention it. This is the double-standards of the West: they address their audience with having a stand against terrorism and wanting to fight terrorism, when in reality they are facilitating terrorism and not even mentioning even a Security Council Resolution under the 7th Chapter, that was taken 24 hours before 2254.

I think they don’t mention it because 2253 has the prerequisite of stopping terrorism in Syria, because it speaks about a punishment for financing, arming, facilitating terrorism into Syria. And if this resolution is implemented, it means that the Turkish border should be closed, it means that Saudi Arabia and Qatar should be brought to task because of financing the terrorists, it means that there would be no justification for more terrorists to cross the border and come to Syria.”

Regarding the disappearance of 2253, unimplemented and not discussed, Dr. Shaaban concluded what this means to her: “First, is it tells me that those who have taken this decision, including the UN and the West, are not serious in fighting terrorism. In fact they don’t want to fight terrorism. They want to employ terrorism for their own purposes, and threats to fulfill their agenda, through using the weapon of terrorism.

Second, they would not be able to implement 2254, with all the good intentions on earth, because in order to implement 2254 you need to fulfill the prerequisite of at least controlling terrorism. Otherwise, how can you reach a political solution in Syria? How can you negotiate, how can you liberate Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor and the rest of Aleppo, unless you first undermine terrorism?

There is no real international will to stop this war on Syria, no matter what they are saying. It’s not important what they say, it’s important what they do. Unfortunately, it is the Syrian people that who are paying the price, first and foremost.

Those who targeted Syria from the beginning, whether they are regional or international partners, they do not want this war on Syria to end. Thus, it is becoming like a war of attrition against the Syrian people.

It is not humanitarian assistance that Syrian people are looking for. They’re looking for safety and security to go their lands, do their trades. Syrians do not want the UN to feed them, they want to feed themselves. That’s all they want, peace and security, and that is what the international community is not helping the Syrian people achieve.

It is ridiculous to concentrate on humanitarian aid and cessation of hostilities. We want to end the war. We want to end terrorism, that’s what we want. The UN should not be only for the cessation of hostilities but for ending this terrorism in Syria.”

Reblogged this on Today,s Thought and commented:
My admiraton of your courage, to put your values, and life on the line to enable the world to know the truth of these terrible wars, based on lies and propaganda by the Western countries. May the God’s, who or what they may be, protect you and your people. Maybe there is a chance for Canada with people like you. But from my studies, and the progressive changes in all aspects of the cultures have declined in morality, education, health standards, poison food, on and on. The Neo Con,s want war to fill the military industrial complex need to fill their pockets. The banks and black government run the show, choosing the puppet as the Pres, and they own the media controlling the propaganda and have brain washed most of the zombies in the West. I see no improvement in the near future.

International Journalism Award From Mexican Press Club March 2017

about me

Eva Bartlett is an independent writer and rights activist with extensive experience in Syria and in the Gaza Strip, where she lived a cumulative three years (from late 2008 to early 2013). She documented the 2008/9 and 2012 Israeli war crimes and attacks on Gaza while riding in ambulances and reporting from hospitals.
Since April 2014, she has visited Syria 7 times, including two months in summer 2016 and one month in Oct/Nov 2016 and her latest visit in June 2017 (to Aleppo, Homs, al-Waer, Madaya, al-Tall, Damascus).
Her early visits included interviewing residents of the Old City of Homs, which had just been secured from militants, and visiting historic Maaloula after the Aramaic village had been liberated of militants. In December 2015, Eva returned to old Homs to find life returning, small shops opened, some of the damaged historic churches holding worship anew, and citizens preparing to celebrate Christmas once again.
On her 5th visit in June-August 2016, she went twice to Aleppo, also visiting: liberated Palmyra; Masyaf to interview survivors of the terrorist attacks on Aqrab and Adra; survivors of the May 23 terrorist attacks on Jableh & Tartous; and the Barzeh district of Damascus, as well as returning again to Maaloula and Latakia.
On her sixth visit to Syria, in October and November, she visited Aleppo twice more, as well as areas around Damascus. The testimonies Eva gathered in Aleppo starkly contrasted narratives corporate media had been asserting.
On her seventh visit to Syria in June 2017, she revisited Aleppo, including going to eastern areas formerly terrorist-occupied, finding that hospitals had been militarized, basements turned into prisons. She also went to the highly-propagandized over village of Madaya, as well as al-Waer, Homs, and al-Tall.
Many of her published Syria writings, videos, photos can be found at this link:
https://ingaza.wordpress.com/syria/
A more detailed account of her activism and writings can be found here:
https://ingaza.wordpress.com/about-me/